Law of Class Action

The Class Actions & Derivative Suits Committee consists of practitioners, corporate counsel, and academics interested in class actions and stockholder derivative suits. Its leadership of top practitioners works to keep members abreast of issues in the class actions area, with subcommittees focused on areas that include antitrust law, consumer law, derivative suits, employment law, mass torts, pharmaceuticals and health law, and securities law. Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Executive Editor, is a founding partner of the national plaintiffs’ firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. She represents plaintiffs in complex civil litigation primarily in the areas of class actions, mass torts, products liability, securities and investment fraud, and consumer fraud, as well as through pro bono representation of plaintiffs in civil rights and human rights litigation. Ms. Cabraser is regarded as a national authority in complex civil litigation, including class certification, class notice, settlement, the structuring of class trials, and appellate issues. Under Ms. Cabraser’s leadership, Lieff Cabraser has developed into one of the country’s largest and most successful plaintiffs’ law firms.Ms. Cabraser is Editor-in-Chief of California Class Actions Practice and Procedures (Lexis-Nexis). She has served as court-appointed lead, co-lead, or class counsel in scores of federal multi-district and state coordinated proceedings, and has participated in the design, structure and conduct of eight nationwide class action trials. Ms. Cabraser has held leadership roles in cases that resulted in landmark settlements, verdicts, and precedent-setting rulings, including multi-state tobacco, Fen-Phen (diet drugs), and Holocaust cases. She currently serves in key leadership roles in two of the most high-profile civil cases in the nation: the Toyota sudden acceleration and BP Gulf Oil spill law.Fabrice N. Vincent, Executive Editor, is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. A graduate from Cornell Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1992), Mr. Vincent’s practice focuses on class actions, personal injury/torts, defective products, wrongful deaths, medical malpractice, and environmental and toxic torts. He has been recognized by Law & Politics as a “Northern California Super Lawyer” for many years and has written extensively on current issues in litigation including in California Class Actions Practice and Procedures.Stephen Tollafield, Coordinating Editor, is a research analyst at Lieff Cabraser Heimann ; Bernstein, LLP. He graduated from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (J.D., 2002) and has worked as a litigator, court staff attorney, and law school writing and research professor. He is a member of the California bar.